Can you get out in under an hour?
The clock is ticking. Time is running out. If you don’t crack the clues soon, you will never be able to unlock the door …
It sounds like one of those stress dreams you have after eating cheese for supper. But this challenge is real, it’s in the heart of York, and people love taking part. GR8escape York is the city’s first “live escape room,” where teams are locked in and given a series of puzzles to solve and challenges to overcome in order to break out.
Info
Address 4a Colliergate, York YO1 8BP, +44 (0)7897 122834, www.gr8escapeyork.co.uk, info@gr8escapeyork.co.uk | Public Transport Closest bus stop: Stonebow | Hours Daily 10am–7:45pm; pre-book online| Tip For puzzle addicts, York teems with pub-quiz challenges. Try the Speedquizzing Night at the Gillygate (48 Gillygate), where you use your smartphone to answer questions.
The first test is to find the place. Look for the Barnitts department store on Colliergate, and opposite you’ll see a panelled door. That leads to a set of stairs and your GR8escape experience. There are two rooms to choose from. For the first, you enroll in Spy School. To graduate, you must solve all the clues to find the safe which contains your diploma – and then crack the combination. The second, said to be trickier still, is the New York Room. Here you join the NYPD as a rookie detective and have to track down the diamond stolen by master thief Bugsy Bronxton. Unfortunately, your search warrant only lasts an hour and if you don’t find the booty, you’ll have to hand in your police badge …
To win demands teamwork – people tend to play with family and friends or work colleagues. But beware: your success or failure will be advertised to the world with a photo posted on the company’s social-media channels. And two-thirds of teams fail to make it out.
Launched in October 2014, GR8escape York was the brainchild of couple Gerri and Kevin Trower and their friends Andrew and Amanda Smith. They came across the idea while travelling in Eastern Europe, where escape rooms are very popular, and decided to bring the experience to Yorkshire’s walled city. They are planning to create another room soon. And judging by the highly positive feedback from both escapees and inmates, there’ll be a queue just waiting to be locked inside.
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